On the afternoon of Saturday 16th June, climate campaigners glued themselves to the doors of the short-haul East Midlands airport to draw attention to the environmental impacts of flying as part of a European day of action on short-haul flights called by pressure group Airport Watch.
Two men from climate action group, Plane Stupid, have caused disruption by supergluing themselves to the passenger entrances to the airport. Supporters are there handing out leaflets to airport customers encouraging them not to fly next time, and a banner carried by helium-filled balloons was also released in the departure lounge bearing the slogan ‘Let’s fry’.
Photos: Climate activists glued to doors at East Midlands Airport: 1 | 2
Links:
Plane Stupid |
Airport Watch |
East Side Climate Action |
Climate Camp |
Green Economics- Climate and aviation campaign |
BBC NEWS UK Politics Living under a sky of sound |
Open Skies |
Hacan ClearSkies |
Climate activist ‘super-glued to door’ of lastminute.com |
The year of Aviation |
Nottingham Plane Stupid group formed |
Nottingham East Midlands Airport – Watch this Airspace! |
Protesters occupy runway at East Midlands Airport |
Protestors shut down Nottingham East Midlands airport: Earth First Action report
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNv9plVOLAE]
Today’s day of action was called to illustrate that short-haul flights are unnecessary and unsustainable and that short haul journeys can easily be taken by train or bus which are both over ten times less polluting. Demonstrations and protests have been happening throughout the day at airports across the UK and Europe, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Bristol, Southampton, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and others.
Aviation is the fastest-growing source of greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide. In the UK, emissions from aviation more than doubled in ten years. In May the government quoted the figure of 13% as aviation’s contribution to UK climate impacts. If you include flights to and from the UK by UK citizens (the government excludes the former), the sector now contributes about 18.5% of the climate-changing emissions for which this country is responsible.
Nottingham protestor, Alex Harvey, said, “Binge-flying is choking the planet. Airport expansion would lock us into increased greenhouse gas emissions and undo all our other efforts to reduce emissions. It’s just not an option. Yet that’s exactly what is planned for airports like East Midlands which only serve destinations easily reachable by more sustainable public transport alternatives.’
Photos: Climate activists glued to doors at East Midlands Airport: 1 | 2
Last year twenty-five activists from Plane Stupid blockaded a taxi-runway at the same airport.
